Scrabble For Two
by greengirl82
Summary: Emily and Jack have a little chat while playing Scrabble... Written For: Longbourn22


**Scrabble For Two**

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, CBS does. I also don't own Scrabble.

Summary: Emily and Jack have a little chat while playing Scrabble.

Special Thanks To: **Longbourn22** for the idea.

A/N: I'm more of a Wordfeud girl then Scrabble not that it makes much of a difference, but keep that in mind when reading the story. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave a review.

* * *

"The right words may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as the rightly timed pause." Mark Twain

* * *

"Ok" Emily slowly said, lying the tile pieces on the colorful board, "County. And I've got thirteen points."

"Wow" Jack said, looking at the board, "You're really good at this game, Emmy."

"Thanks" Emily said, writing down the score, "And according to the points chart, you're better."

Jack beamed at that, "You think so?"

"Uh huh" Emily said, the narrowed her eyes, "Wait a minute."

"What?" Jack asked, looking into her dark eyes.

"Didn't your Dad tell me that you were a champion speller?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

The sandy-haired boy bit his lip, and looked down at the tile board in front of him, "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Emily said, "Jack Hotchner are you playing me?"

When the young boy looked up at his friend, he was relieved to see amusement not anger.

"Emmy!" Jack giggled, watching the brunette ruffle his hair, "Ok, my turn."

Emily snapped her fingers, "And here I thought I distracted you enough to forget that part."

Jack grinned as he picked up his tile pieces and placed them on the board, "Zee."

"Zee?" Emily frowned looking down at the word, "That can't be a real word?"

"It is" Jack said nodding, then looked at the dictionary, "Are you going to double check?"

"No" Emily sighed, looking down at the paper with the score, "Ok, that'd normally be thirteen but since your 'z' landed on a double letter tile you've got twenty-three."

"Yes" Jack grinned at the news.

"Good job" Emily said, sighing as she looked at her tiles, "Ok, I'm going to swap three tiles. That means it's your turn."

"Again?" he asked, looking down at the board then his tiles, "Emmy? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, sweetie" Emily said turning her attention to the little boy that she adored, "What is it?"

"My Dad told me that if I talk out of..." he frowned try to remember the correct phrase, "That if I talk out of turn that I should be told right away and not to ask but I wanted to know something."

"Jack, you know we're friends, right?" she said watching him nod, "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"

"I wanted... it's about when you were gone" Jack started, licking his lower lip, "But my Dad said that would be rude."

Emily toyed with the tiles in her hands, "It's all right, Jack. Go ahead."

"I heard Dad tell Uncle Dave that you played Scrabble with Miss JJ" Jack started, "That you played when you were away..."

"Yeah" Emily said, "I did that a lot so I could still have myself connected to her."

"Did you miss her?" Jack asked, "Miss everyone?"

Emily set the light brown tiles on the coffee table, and took a deep breath.

"I did miss everyone but I had to go away to keep everyone safe" Emily said, "I didn't want to go but I had too."

"Did you miss Daddy too?" he asked, "And me?"

Emily reached over, touching the boy's smaller hand, "I missed you both so much."

Jack returned the smile, "We missed you too, Emmy."

He abandoned the game, and moved around the table to pull her into a hug. The brunette pulled the small boy on her lap.

* * *

"Daddy was really sad when you were gone" Jack whispered to her, "Sometimes he wouldn't come out of his room."

Running her hand over the boy's back, she watched as he laid his head against her chest as he said, "I missed you too, Emmy."

That broke her heart, hearing just how hard her departure effected the ones she left behind. She knew it was hard for the team but never thought that it would be this bad for the little boy she loved as her own.

"Jack?" Emily said, watching as he lifted his head from her chest to look into her dark brown eyes, "I promise that I will never ever leave you for that long again."

"I know" Jack said, surprising the woman, "I remember when Mommy and I had to go away."

Emily felt her breath leave her body. She remembered all too well herself just how hard it was for Hotch to say goodbye to his little boy.

"Emmy?" Jack said, placing his small hands on the brunette's cheeks, "You're going to stay here forever right?"

Emily took his hands from her face and kissed the palms of his hands, "As long as you and your Dad want me here."

"Then that's forever" Jack said pulling her into a big hug before turning his head to look at the board.

Emily tickled the boy into a laughing fit, "I see you peeking at my tiles. Trying to cheat again, Mister Man?"

"No" he said, covering his stomach with his hands, "Emmy, Emmy stop."

"Uh uh" Emily said, lightly placing the boy on the sofa, "Are you going to admit it?"

"No" he said with a giggle, "I win, fair and square."

"Really?" Emily said, pulling back from her tickling, "All right, how about this next word round whoever gets the highest word counting gets bragging rights?"

"Huh?" Jack asked sitting up.

Emily sighed, she knew she'd need to curb her competitiveness with the boy, but he had a streak the rivaled her own and took a deep breath.

"Looking at our points we're not that far from each other, whoever gets the biggest word with the tiles we have left wins," she told him.

"Wins what?" Jack asked, going back to his side of the table and looking at the tiles he had.

"The right to be called number one" Emily told him, "And..."

"Does that mean I get to stay up late on the weekends too?" Jack asked with hope.

Emily chuckled, "Nice try, kiddo, but I think that should be left up to your Dad."

"Aw man" Jack murmured, "Thought I'd get a chance."

Emily chuckled, "Ok, so I think it's still your turn, buddy."

"Ok" Jack said, looking down at the tiles then to the board before picking up a few and placing them down, "There."

"Qi?" Emily asked, furrowing her eyebrows, "Are you kidding me?"

Jack frowned, "I don't have very good letters."

"And you got the Q on a double letter and that totals..." she said with a raised eyebrow, "Twenty two."

* * *

"Your turn, Emmy" Jack said with a grin on his face.

Emily looked down at her tiles then placed down the tiles "Goldfish, and I've got thirteen."

"Oh" Jack said, looking down at the paper, "So who won?"

Emily looked down and tallied up the score, "Huh."

"What?" Jack asked, peering at the paper, "Emmy?"

Emily looked up, "Looks like you're a little shark, Jack."

"A shark?" he repeated, surprised.

"You won" Emily said watching the boy's face light up in excitement.

"Really?" he asked, jumping up in excitement and launching himself at her.

The two look up when they saw Hotch walk into the apartment, "What's going on in here?"

"I beat Emmy at Scrabble, Daddy" Jack said, running over to his father.

Hotch took a seat besides Emily, "Really? Cool, buddy."

"What's for dinner?" Jack asked, "Can we have pizza?"

Hotch looked over at Emily who nodded in agreement, "Sure thing. How about we go out to the Zone?"

"Yeah" Jack grinned, "I'll go wash my hands."

The two dark-haired agents watched the little boy rush off and Hotch saw the quiet demeanor from Emily.

* * *

"So anything interesting happened while I was at the meeting?" Hotch asked.

"Strauss giving you a hard time?" she asked, picking up the discarded tiles and placing them back in the box.

"No she actually took my disclosing us pretty well" Hotch said, "I'd be suspicious that she'd still have her issues if it weren't for the fact she's in Reid's support group."

"Ah" Emily said, "We'll maybe since her hiatus she's turned over a new leaf?"

"You think?" he asked her, both looked at each other than shook their heads of the thought, "Nah."

"Jack and I had an interesting talk" Emily said setting the game down on the table, "About my departure last year and how you two missed me."

"Oh" he said, "What brought this on?"

"My Scrabble time with Cheeto Breath" Emily chuckled, "I've done some thinking and I think I'd like to take some time off from the BAU."

"How come?" Hotch asked shocked, "Emily?"

Emily took a deep breath, "I love the BAU, Aaron, but I think it'd be better for a while if I just took a little break and maybe stay here and take care of Jack."

Hotch frowned, but then went over her words again, and said, "You mean be a stay at home mother?"

Emily smiled, "We do live together and Jessica's been really busy working lately, and I'm practically raising Jack already with you. You're not mad are you?"

Hotch couldn't contain his smile, his heart soared for the brunette beside him, "I can't believe you'd want to do that, I mean you just came back and you'd willingly take a break for my son?"

Emily turned to face him, "Aaron, you and your son mean more to me then anything in this world, including that job. It wouldn't be permanent any ways. Strauss did offer me time off after that meeting with the Senate Committee and since the last 'vacation' I had been on was when I was in hiding..."

Hotch cupped her cheeks, "You do whatever you feel comfortable with, just know that I support your decision, Emily."

Emily felt him wrap his arms around her as he leaned back on the couch pulling her with him, "I think it will be good for me to take a break and just enjoy the time we have with each other."

Pressing a kiss to her head, "I think so too."

The two sat in peace waiting for Jack to come back and join them before embarking on their future together.

* * *

James Earl Jones said, "One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."

* * *

**THE END**

I hope you all enjoyed this, don't forget to leave a review.


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